Manhattan Associates Inc. (NASDAQ: MANH), on Monday announced the findings of its 2026 Global Unified Commerce Benchmark for Specialty Retail, the industry’s most comprehensive assessment of how well retailers connect digital and physical experiences to drive growth, profitability and loyalty. Conducted by Incisiv, a leading retail research firm, the Benchmark is based on real-world purchases and returns. It analyzes more than 400 specialty retailers across EMEA, LATAM and North America on 330 capabilities spanning four key experience areas: Shopping, Checkout, Fulfillment, and Service.

The 2026 Benchmark reveals that while the industry has made steady progress in unified commerce maturity since 2023 when it was first launched, only 7% of retailers have achieved true unified commerce leadership while 33% are still stuck in the Basic category. Leaders are translating connected, data‑driven yet customer-centric experiences into nearly 2X higher growth rates than their basic peers.

The Benchmark highlights a new competitive reality in specialty retail, where scale, assortment and brand presence alone no longer guarantee growth. Key insights include:

• AI is reshaping commerce: AI in retail is projected to unlock more than $500 billion in value globally by 2030, shifting the focus from simple task automation to intelligent systems that anticipate demand, personalize in real time and resolve friction before customers encounter it. AI shopping assistants, predictive fulfillment, in‑store personalization and intelligent cross‑channel support with context‑aware escalation are defining the new frontier.
• Consumer journeys are fragmented: More than 66% of consumers now use two or more channels before completing a purchase, moving fluidly between marketplaces, social platforms, messaging apps and retailers’ own sites and stores.
• Execution economics are under pressure: Global logistics and fulfillment costs have risen by over 20% in the last three years, as customers expect faster delivery, flexible fulfillment and seamless service as standard.
• Inventory intelligence: Real‑time visibility and dynamic allocation drive significantly higher inventory turns – 50% in NOAM, 45% in EMEA and 27% in LATAM – helping reduce stockouts and markdowns.
• Yesterday’s differentiators are now table stakes. 38% of the capabilities that differentiated leaders in 2024 have become table stakes by 2026, including basic real‑time inventory visibility, digital wallets and cross‑channel support.

“Retailers are being asked to do something incredibly hard right now: deliver faster, more personalized experiences while also protecting margin,” said Katie Foote, SVP & CMO, Manhattan Associates. “What this benchmark makes clear is that the retailers pulling ahead are not doing it with one standout channel or a single capability. They are doing it by reimagining the entire customer journey and connecting the business end to end, from shopping and checkout to fulfillment and service.”

The 2026 Benchmark also reveals how unified commerce maturity is evolving by region:

• NOAM retailers benefit from deep ecommerce foundations and mature data infrastructure, leading in shopping and checkout personalization and cart execution.
• EMEA retailers stand out in operational consistency, cross‑border fulfillment and privacy‑conscious experiences shaped by a complex regulatory landscape.
• LATAM retailers are closing the gap faster than any other region, driven by rapid adoption of alternative payments, messaging‑led service via WhatsApp and mobile‑first fulfillment models.

“There is no single blueprint for winning in unified commerce. Different regions are moving at varied speeds and solving for different customer expectations. However, the common thread is clear: retailers that invest in connected experiences and precise execution are seeing the results in growth, resilience, and strong customer loyalty,” added Foote.

Click HERE to view and download the complete 2026 Global Unified Commerce Benchmark for Specialty Retail.

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Even as overall sporting goods spending slowed, experiential retail gained traction, with stores such as DICK’S Sporting Goods’ House of Sport attracting shoppers through unique, interactive experiences (i.e., climbing walls, turf fields and other in-store events) that go beyond traditional retail. Outdoor brands also found success by expanding beyond performance gear into everyday apparel and footwear. Brands including Salomon, Rossignol and Evo gained momentum, with their lifestyle positioning resonating especially strongly among consumers in the Northeast and Midwest.

Additional insights include:

• Spending diverged among high- and middle-income shoppers – Higher-income shoppers drove much of the category’s spend-per-customer growth, benefiting retailers and brands serving premium sports such as skiing and golf, including Backcountry, Evo and PGA TOUR Superstore. At the same time, middle-income shoppers pulled back on discretionary sporting goods purchases.
• Gen Z shoppers are boosting niche sports brands – Consumers aged 18 to 24 recorded the highest spend-per-shopper growth throughout most of 2025, supporting brands tied to specific sports communities such as Epic Sports and Proof Lab.
• Tariffs are weighing on hunting and fishing retailers – Steel and aluminum tariffs introduced in 2025 likely contributed to double-digit spending declines for companies including Sportsman’s Warehouse, Brownells and Palmetto State Armory.
• The Western U.S. saw the steepest declines in sporting goods spending – While regional performance varied widely across the U.S., spending in the West dropped the most dramatically in Q1 2025, creating pressure for retailers such as Big 5 Sporting Goods.
• Store openings are rapidly reshaping local competition – In Tulsa, Okla., the opening of a new SCHEELS store propelled the retailer from no market presence to category share leader within three months, disrupting competitors including Academy Sports + Outdoors and DICK’S Sporting Goods.

“We’re seeing a shift in sporting goods spending,” said Michael Gunther, SVP, Research & Market Intelligence, at Consumer Edge. “While overall category spend has slowed, demand hasn’t disappeared – it’s consolidating around premium experiences, specialized communities and lifestyle-driven brands. Retailers that rely on broad-based discretionary demand are feeling pressure, particularly from middle-income consumers and tariff exposure. Those investing in experiential retail and strong brand identity are most likely to capture growth.”

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As AI takes center stage at Shoptalk Spring 2026, a deeper shift is unfolding beneath the hype. Shoppers are increasingly finding products through AI assistants and agents. In April, ChannelEngine will launch AI Attribute Builder to help brands ensure their product data is complete and consistent across channels to stay visible as discovery evolves.

Morgan Stanley projects autonomous agents could influence up to $385 billion in U.S. ecommerce spend by 2030. Already, traffic from AI assistants and agents to retail sites has grown more than 1,300% over the past year. The impact is already visible on individual marketplaces: during last year’s Black Friday, Amazon’s AI shopping assistant Rufus drove 40% of sessions and influenced 66% of purchases, delivering a 3.5x conversion lift.

The systems powering search results, marketplace rankings, and AI-generated recommendations all rely on product data to decide what appears in front of shoppers. Listings with missing identifiers, incomplete specifications, or inconsistent information may still exist online, but they are far less likely to surface when algorithms decide what to show.

“We’re seeing a fundamental shift in what product visibility means. The question used to be: how do I get my products found? Now it’s: how does an AI agent understand them? They don’t browse product pages; they evaluate structured data and decide what to recommend. Missing or inconsistent attributes don’t just hurt rankings. They take products out of the running entirely.” — Niels Floors, VP of Strategic Development at ChannelEngine.

Introducing AI Attribute Builder

In April, ChannelEngine will launch AI Attribute Builder, a new capability that helps brands generate, enrich, and standardize product attributes to meet the specific requirements of each channel they sell on. This covers everything from complete specifications and descriptions to product identifiers that AI agents can read, assess, and recommend.

Protocols like Google and Shopify’s Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) and OpenAI’s Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP) are already defining how AI agents access and interpret product information. The more complete that information is, the more likely a product gets selected.

ChannelEngine helps brands manage product data, pricing, inventory, and orders across hundreds of channels from one place. AI Attribute Builder extends this with product data enrichment to meet the growing demands of both marketplaces and AI-powered commerce.

“Clean, complete, consistent data has always mattered for marketplace success,” said Jorrit Steinz, CEO and Founder of ChannelEngine. “What’s changing is who’s reading it. Today it’s marketplace algorithms. Tomorrow it’s AI agents influencing purchasing decisions. The brands that get their product data right now will be the ones that stay visible.”

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Overall retail spending held steady in November, with 1% growth and flat unit demand, but spending on necessities like food continues to take priority, and elevated prices are eroding the consumer’s discretionary spending ability. In the combined four weeks ending Nov. 29, 2025, overall U.S. retail sales revenue grew 1%, while unit demand remained flat once again compared to the same time in 2024. Retail food and beverage sales revenue rose 2%, and unit sales were up 1%. Non-edible consumer packaged goods dollars were up 1%, while unit sales declined 1%. Discretionary general merchandise retail dollar sales declined 2%, and unit demand fell 4% compared to the same period a year ago, according to Circana, LLC.

“Consumer prioritization is resulting in very specific pockets of growth at deeper levels within retail that are falling short of creating broader momentum,” said Marshal Cohen, chief retail industry advisor for Circana. “Flat discretionary general merchandise sales so far in the fourth quarter of 2025 are revealing the pressure on consumer’s wallets, as well as the diminished impact of the peak holiday shopping weeks.”

November closed out with the week of Black Friday, which brought a nearly 3% decline in dollar sales of discretionary general merchandise and a 5% decline in units. Cyber Week kicked off December with a dollar sales decline of 1.3% and units falling 4.4%. Combined, the two shopping weeks ending Dec. 6, 2025, resulted in a 2% dollar decline and a nearly 5% unit drop from last year.

The very specific pockets of growth at the category level means very few industries are outperforming last year’s results thus far. The list of winning categories was similar for both Black Friday and Cyber Monday weeks, including categories like toy building sets, beauty products, and arts and crafts products, demonstrating how the two events and the roles of physical stores and e-commerce are blending when it comes to promotions, timing, and product focus. Instead of seeking out the hot new items, newness is coming from lifestyle classification — gifting products related to an individual’s hobbies and interests.

“The distinction between Black Friday and Cyber Monday has been lost — shopping during this holiday season has become even less about coveting the deal and more about curating ideas around what to give as gifts,” said Cohen. “Uniqueness, innovation, convenience, and socialization are now all critical to the formula for holiday selling. This is a trend that will continue into 2026 and needs to be ingrained in holiday 2026 planning.” 

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An expert discussion among leaders from ChannelEngine, Salsify, and ZEOS by Zalando highlights 2026 as a defining year for global ecommerce. AI-driven discovery, marketplace diversification, and social commerce acceleration are reshaping how consumers search, compare, and purchase products.

Emerging trends point to a rapidly shifting digital landscape in which brands and retailers must modernize their operations, product information, and channel strategies now or risk falling behind.

“Brands that scaled successfully this year were the ones that approached multichannel selling strategically,” said Jorrit Steinz, CEO of ChannelEngine. “They built strong foundations with unified product data, scalable operations, and the right technology partners, then expanded quickly. The biggest losses came from slow decisions, manual processes, and internal misalignment between teams. With AI accelerating everything, those gaps appear earlier and are far more costly. If brands don’t adapt now, they’ll struggle to compete in 2026.”

1. Get your product data right, or AI will hide you
   
   AI is rapidly reshaping product discovery as more consumers begin their shopping journeys with conversational tools. These algorithms scan product content across marketplaces, brand sites, reviews, and social channels. Amazon’s Rufus already influences 40% of purchase decisions on the platform.
   
   Brands with accurate, aligned product data performed well in 2025, while those relying on outdated information lost visibility. Although only 5% of LLM traffic is currently product-related, panelists agreed this is an early phase, and AI-driven disruption will accelerate significantly in 2026.
   
2. Amazon alone won’t be enough, growth shifts to niche and regional marketplaces
   
   While global marketplaces continue to scale, the fastest growth is happening across regional and category-specific platforms. In fashion, home, beauty, electronics, and value retail, consumers increasingly favor curated marketplaces that reflect local preferences.
   
3. Be active on social commerce, or you’ll miss your next customers
   
   Consumers increasingly begin their shopping journeys on TikTok, Meta, and livestream platforms instead of traditional search engines. User-generated content and mobile-first discovery are influencing purchase decisions at scale. It will be essential for brands to meet consumers wherever they choose to explore.
   
4. Operational speed and reliability will directly dictate marketplace ranking
   
   Rising delivery expectations, stricter marketplace standards, and regional carrier preferences mean legacy fulfillment models are no longer sufficient. Marketplace algorithms now reward delivery speed, stock reliability, and service performance, directly tying operations to ranking and conversion.
   
   In 2026, automation, unified fulfillment, and real-time inventory visibility will be baseline requirements for scalable growth.
   
5. Inventory will need to move in real time as demand shifts across channels
   
   Static seasonal planning is giving way to real-time inventory orchestration. Brands must dynamically allocate stock across channels to maximize profitability and avoid stockouts.

Balancing 1P and 3P models and aligning B2B, marketplace, and D2C teams internally will be a major factor in marketplace success.

Why this matters now

The convergence of AI, marketplace diversification, and social commerce marks a turning point for digital commerce. Brands that deliver consistent product experiences across multichannels and invest in agility and automation will be best positioned to compete in 2026.

ChannelEngine supports this transition by connecting brands and retailers to more than 1,300 marketplaces worldwide through a single platform that centralizes product data, inventory, orders, pricing, and fulfillment, enabling scalable marketplace expansion and sustainable international growth in an increasingly complex commerce environment.

The post Ecommerce Enters a Defining Year: 5 Predictions for 2026 appeared first on RetailToday.

Swiftly, a leading provider of retail technology and retail media solutions, today released its fourth annual True Cost of a Grocery Shop survey, revealing a powerful and timely advantage for independent and regional grocers: nearly 80% of shoppers say they trust their neighborhood brick-and-mortar grocery store more than national giants like Amazon or Walmart to offer fair, personalized deals.

This trust advantage comes at a critical moment for mid-market grocers. Independent retailers make up more than 98% of all U.S. retail firms (U.S. Census Bureau), yet they continue to face margin pressure, increased consolidation, and intensifying competition from tech-enabled national chains. In a market where digital convenience increasingly shapes shopper loyalty, this durable trust presents a rare opportunity for independents to strengthen their competitive position—if they can pair it with modern digital capabilities that meet rising consumer expectations.

Affordability pressures remain persistent, with 68% of shoppers reporting they still struggle to afford groceries—a strain that has now lasted four consecutive years. This context makes the trust advantage even more meaningful. As consumers work harder to stretch their budgets, they are looking for retailers they believe will treat them fairly and help them save. This sustained pressure is driving shoppers to become more intentional and to search for value in more structured ways. In fact, more than half (55.71%) shop based on discounts and promotions. For independent grocers, this means their trusted position must now be reinforced by digital tools that help shoppers find value quickly and confidently.

This urgency is reflected in how shoppers choose to save. Nearly seven in ten rely on loyalty cards, 71% use coupons to manage costs, and more than one-third use retailer mobile apps weekly—behavior that demonstrates both high digital expectations and an appetite for retailer-led support. While trust remains the local grocer’s greatest strength, shoppers increasingly expect that trust to be reinforced through modern digital tools that make savings easier to find, more personalized, and available wherever a trip begins.

Personalized savings play a similarly critical role. More than half of shoppers plan trips around available discounts, 44% act on personalized recommendations through loyalty programs or digital channels, and 37% will switch brands if a promotion helps them save. These insights reinforce that data-driven engagement—once a differentiator—is now a baseline expectation. For local grocers, this means the trust advantage can only translate into loyalty and trips if it is paired with modern digital platforms that deliver relevant, real-time promotions at scale.

Further reinforcing this shift, more than 65% of consumers say rising food prices would directly change how they shop—pointing them toward the very digital tools that help local grocers activate their trust advantage:

• 48% would use more digital coupons and cashback offers
• 46% would download a retailer app to find the best offers
• 43% would join a grocery loyalty program
• 42% would shop more frequently in-store

These findings reinforce a clear message for independent and regional grocers: shoppers already trust them, and shoppers are highly motivated to adopt digital tools that help them save. By investing in apps, loyalty programs, and personalized offers, local grocers can meet the moment—winning attention, driving trips, and converting trust into measurable growth.

“This year’s findings highlight a defining moment for regional and independent grocers,” said Henry Kim, CEO of Swiftly. “Shoppers are telling us two things loud and clear: they trust their local stores more than national giants, and they expect digital convenience, personalized value, and real-time savings. The grocers who combine these strengths—deep community trust supported by modern digital engagement—will be the ones who lead the next era of grocery. The urgency is clear: technology is now essential to leveling the playing field.”

Sean Turner, CTO and Co-Founder of Swiftly, added: “Trust has always been the competitive edge for neighborhood grocers. What’s changed is how it must be delivered. Today’s shoppers expect savings to be simple, intuitive, and highly personalized across mobile, web, loyalty, and in-store touchpoints. Technology is the infrastructure that enables grocers to honor that trust while delivering value at scale.”

The True Cost of a Grocery Shop 2025 survey was conducted by Swiftly via online survey, gathering responses from more than 1,400 U.S. grocery shoppers ages 18 and older. Participants were not compensated. The survey examines consumer sentiment, affordability pressures, and digital engagement trends.

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Online grocery is staging a comeback, but the true opportunity for retailers lies in seamlessly connecting digital channels with the physical store. According to SymphonyAI, a global leader in Vertical AI platforms, and its fourth annual Grocery E-commerce Benchmark, the industry’s largest longitudinal study of digital grocery behavior, growth has returned after three years of contraction. But while online grocery attracts new and returning shoppers, the winning economics now come from converting that digital engagement into in-store sales, loyalty, and higher-value customer experiences.

The study, which analyzed 1.3 billion transactions and 68 million households across the US and Europe, reveals a structural shift: digital grocery is no longer defined by weekly stock-up missions, but by small, mission-driven baskets. These shifts in channel usage mean retailers must reimagine the in-store experience—using digital insights, AI-driven segmentation, and personalized engagement to deliver what today’s shopper wants, where it matters most: in physical stores.

A New Economic Model: AI Bridges Online and In-Store

This year’s findings differ sharply from historical trends, signaling a new, AI-enabled retail playbook:

• Growth is acquisition-led, with a 12% increase in new and reactivated customers year-over-year. Successful retailers use AI-powered propensity modeling to identify these shoppers online—and convert them into loyal in-store customers.
• Small baskets dominate, driven by single-occasion purchases like forgotten items and replenishment. AI-powered recommendations and targeted promotions can nudge online shoppers towards bundled offers and full-basket missions in store.
• Even highly loyal online shoppers are visiting less often, increasing the urgency for physical stores to become more responsive, personalized, and efficient using digital signals and AI-native operations.
• Subscriptions are emerging as a key lever for frequency. Retailers that use AI-driven insights from digital activity can trigger in-store subscription pickups, loyalty benefits, and personalized in-store experiences that rebuild engagement.

These shifts reflect broader pressures—from consumer time scarcity to inflation-driven price sensitivity—and are prompting grocers to rethink how they use digital data and AI to optimize their physical store environments, merchandising, and operations.

Regional Approaches Diversify—But the Store Remains Key

The benchmark also highlights differences between regions:

• US retailers are prioritizing customer acquisition and omnichannel expansion. The leaders are those who use digital behavior signals to personalize outreach and drive store traffic and spend.
• European retailers, competing in a more mature digital market, are leaning into loyalty and frequency recovery. Many now leverage AI to synchronize digital offers and in-store experiences, reinforcing brand loyalty at the physical shelf.

In both cases, SymphonyAI’s AI retail platform enable retailers to translate digital opportunity into in-store conversion, higher-value missions, and operational excellence.

Executive Perspective

“This is not a return to pre-pandemic behavior—it’s the emergence of a new economic model, powered by AI,” said Manish Choudhary, President, Retail at SymphonyAI. “Online grocery may be growing, but it’s the retailers who rapidly connect digital insights to the physical store—personalizing every in-aisle experience, every bundle, every promotion—who will win. SymphonyAI’s Vertical AI platform enables retailers to transform insights into timely, targeted in-store actions—reshaping the next decade of grocery.”

AI-Driven Solutions for Modern Retail

Trends like these highlight the importance of AI-native, intelligent retail execution in stores. The same behavioral insights inform SymphonyAI’s CINDE Connected Retail platform, which powers merchandising, store operations, demand forecasting, and retail media for physical environments. With CINDE, grocery retailers and CPGs can:

• Precisely identify and target high-value digital shoppers, converting them into loyal in-store customers
• Personalize in-store experiences, recommendations, and promotions based on digital mission signals and predictive models
• Optimize assortment, store layouts, and pricing dynamically with AI-driven, hyper-localized insights
• Detect and mitigate churn risk by activating loyalty and subscription programs in store
• Synchronize digital campaigns and in-store activations for maximum omnichannel impact
• Accelerate time-to-insight and move from intelligence to real-world execution—breaking down silos between digital data and in-store engagement

Study Methodology

Now in its fourth year, SymphonyAI’s Grocery E-commerce Benchmark is recognized as the industry’s most comprehensive longitudinal analysis of online grocery behavior. The 2025 study includes:

• 1.3 billion transactions
• 11 billion units, including 888 million online transaction units
• 68 million households across the US and Europe
• Data spanning Q1 2019 through Q2 2025
• Retailers weighted equally to ensure representative market insights

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Holiday shoppers are adjusting rapidly to economic pressures according to new data from Qlik®, a global leader in data integration, data quality, analytics, and artificial intelligence (AI). As part of Qlik’s second annual holiday shopping survey, 83% of respondents say they are making changes to their holiday shopping plans to address economic realities.

Of those changing their plans, 40% are buying fewer gifts and over a third (35%) started their shopping earlier to stretch budgets across more pay periods. Inflation is the defining influence, cited by 39% as the primary factor shaping their spending decisions, far ahead of tariffs (15%) or economic concerns about an “AI bubble” (9%).

One of the clearest trends is the rise of lower-cost alternatives to premium brands, led by Gen Z. Nearly one in three (32%) Gen Z shoppers say they deliberately seek out substitutes for premium brands – for example, choosing Costco leggings instead of pricier Lululemon styles, or “Lafufus” instead of Pop Mart’s Labubu dolls. These choices often involve value retailers, private labels, or less expensive emerging brands rather than like-for-like copies. These swaps show how younger shoppers are determined to keep up with trends while staying within tight seasonal budgets.

Retailers are seeing a shift in consumer behavior with secondhand gifting going mainstream across generations. The Silent Generation (aged 80+) shops at secondhand or thrift stores for holiday gifts at nearly the same rate as Millennials (23%) and Gen X (21%), with 31% of Gen Z doing the same. Boomers, at just 13%, are the only generation that largely avoids pre-owned gifts.

“Gen Z is giving retailers a preview of the next decade,” said Qlik CEO Mike Capone. “They want the latest trends, they are ruthless about value, and they treat returns as a normal part of how they shop.”

Returns remain an overlooked opportunity for retailers. As in last year’s findings, one in five consumers (20%) spend more at the time of return than the value of the item they are returning. Gen Z again over-indexes: 30% routinely top up their return to purchase something more desirable. Furthermore, a majority (54%) of Gen Z have purchased something online expecting they will likely return the item, followed by Millennials (43%) and Gen X (32%).

Capone continued, “Our research shows the real opportunity is to design for that entire journey, from the first search to the moment a customer walks in with a return and leaves with something better. The retailers that come out ahead will use solid data and agentic AI to get their price points right, protect their brands, and turn returns from a cost center into one of the most profitable parts of the season.”

Methodology

The research was conducted by Censuswide, among a sample of 2,000 nationally representative US respondents (18+). The data was collected between November 27 and December 1, 2025. Censuswide abides by and employs members of the Market Research Society and follows the MRS code of conduct and ESOMAR principles. Censuswide is also a member of the British Polling Council.

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dunnhumby, a global leader in customer data science, has named Costco as Canada’s top grocery retailer for the second consecutive year in the dunnhumby Retailer Preference Index (RPI) for Canada. The nationwide brand equity study examines the $115 billion Canadian grocery market by analyzing customer and financial data for the 28 largest conventional, discount, superstore, and club banners in Canada, which represent 97% of market share. Maxi, Food Basics and Real Canadian Superstore followed Costco as the top four grocery retailers. No Frills, Super C, Walmart, Fresh Co, and Dominion round out the top nine.

The top nine grocers in the RPI, almost entirely club, discount, and superstore formats, lead in saving Canadians money (price, promotions, and rewards)—the most important pillar for Canadian consumers in the RPI. This pillar drives 44% of financial and customer results. Retailers who have a competitive advantage in this pillar are more likely to achieve long-term success.

“Even though inflation and interest rates have dropped, Canadians still face affordability issues and are focused on value and savings more than last year,” said Matt O’Grady, dunnhumby’s President of the Americas. “This RPI report gives retailers important data and insights to adjust their customer strategies and offerings to better help their customers meet their needs.”

Key findings from the study:

• Maxi overtook Costco as the top grocery retailer in Quebec, the country’s second-most populous province. The retailer surpassed Costco in this province by demonstrating superior performance in pricing, promotional strategies, and overall savings, the most important customer perception pillar for Quebec consumers. Maxi also outpaces Costco on speed and convenience – the fourth most important pillar.
• The top nine Canadian grocers (first tercile) are growing significantly faster. The top tercile retailers led grocery revenue growth both in the past year and over the last five years, gaining a clear market share advantage. Over the long term, they grew two times faster than the lowest-ranked retailers
• First tercile retailers capture 29% of a customer’s grocery spend, while third tercile retailers capture 17%.
• Assortment quality (31%) and Digital (11%) are the second and third most associated pillars for long-term success, but their decline in 2025 indicates that Canadians are trading-off benefits for better savings in their grocery purchases. The remaining two pillars are Speed and Convenience (8%), and operational consistency (6%).
• The best performing conventional retailers (Zehrs Markets, Save-on-Foods, Safeway, Thrifty Foods) compensate for their price / promotions disadvantages in several ways. They deliver targeted savings through optimized loyalty programs, make promotions more relevant and personalized, and offer adequate quality without overinvesting. This approach ensures they remain competitive on base prices.
• Retailers should keep an eye on Amazon, as 30% of Canadian customers buy groceries there. Amazon is not listed in the RPI due to its lack of physical stores in Canada, but it would rank eighth if included, down from second last year. The lower ranking stems from higher pricing and shifting priorities in 2025. Despite this, Amazon remains a potential competitor, especially in perishables, given its large customer base and strong market presence.

Methodology

The dunnhumby RPI is the only approach to ranking grocers that combines financial results with customer perception. For this RPI, dunnhumby analyzed customer and financial data for the 28 largest conventional, discount, superstore, and club banners in Canada, which account for 97% of market share in those formats. The customer perception data comes from dunnhumby’s survey of 6,000 Canadian grocery shoppers. Financial data analyzed included market share, near-term, and long-term sales growth.

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As of November 30, 2025, the NRS retail network comprised approximately 38,000 active terminals nationwide, scanning purchases at approximately 32,900 independent retailers, including convenience stores, bodegas, liquor stores, grocers, and tobacco and sundries sellers, predominantly serving urban consumers.

November Highlights

(Same-store sales, unit sales, transactions, and average price data refer to November 2025 and are compared to November 2024 unless otherwise noted. All comparisons are provided on a “per calendar day” basis to remove from consideration variability in the number of days per month or three-month period.)

• SALES
  • Same-store sales increased 3.8% year-over-year. In the previous month (October 2025), same-store sales increased 5.7% year-over-year.

• Same-store sales decreased 0.7% compared to the previous month (October 2025). Same-store sales in October 2025 also decreased 0.7% compared to the previous month (September 2025).
  • For the three months ended November 30, 2025, same-store sales increased 4.6% compared to the corresponding three months a year ago.

• UNITS SOLD
  • Units sold increased 0.9% year-over-year. In the previous month (October 2025), units sold increased 1.3% year-over-year.
  • Units sold decreased 0.9% compared to the previous month (October 2025). Units sold in October 2025 decreased 1.8% compared to the previous month (September 2025).
    
• BASKETS (TRANSACTIONS) PER STORE
  • Baskets decreased 0.9% year-over-year. In the previous month (October 2025), baskets increased 0.1% year-over-year.
  • Baskets decreased 3.7% compared to the previous month (October 2025). Baskets in October 2025 decreased 2.6% compared to the previous month (September 2025).
    
• AVERAGE PRICES
  • A dollar-weighted average of prices for the top 500 items purchased in November increased 3.1% year-over-year, a slight increase from the 3.0% year-over-year increase in October 2025.

Retail Trade Comparative Data

As a result of the recent government shutdown, U.S. Commerce Department’s Advance Monthly Retail Trade same-store sales data excluding food service for October has not been released.

“NRS’ independent retailer network generated steady momentum in November, with transactions up 0.9% and dollar sales increasing 3.8% versus November a year ago. Growth was driven by continued strong performance in key convenience categories, including cigarettes, RTD cocktails, smokeless tobacco, and energy beverages. Our measure of inflation in November reached 3.1%, its highest level this year and a slight increase from the 3.0% recorded in October. These results highlight the resilience of everyday convenience spending and the value our retailers provide to their local communities,” noted Brandon Thurber, VP, Data Sales & Client Success at NRS.

NRSInsights Reports

The NRSInsights monthly Same-Store Retail Sales Reports are intended to provide timely topline data reflective of sales at NRS’ network of independent, predominantly urban, retail stores.

Same-store data comparisons of November 2025 with November 2024 are derived from approximately 216 million transactions processed through the approximately 24,000 stores on the NRS network that scanned transactions in both months. Same-store data comparisons of November 2025 with October 2025 are derived from approximately 272 million transactions processed through approximately 32,000 stores.

Same-store data comparisons for the three months ended November 30, 2025 with the year-ago three months are derived from approximately 651 million transactions processed through those stores that scanned transactions in both three-month periods.

NRS POS Platform

The NRS platform predominantly serves small-format, independent, retail stores nationwide including convenience stores, bodegas, liquor stores, grocers, and tobacco and sundries sellers. These independent retailers operate in all 50 states and the District of Colombia, including 205 of the 210 designated market areas (DMAs) in the United States, and in Canada. During November 2025, NRS’ POS terminals processed $2.07 billion in sales (+14% year-over-year) across 135 million transactions.

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